Classic or Dud: Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares

Sean C: ps. In a cage match between Le Mystere and Huun Huur Tu it's hard to predict a winner...those growly Tuvan voices are pretty powerful, though Le Mystere may make up for it with sheer numbers.
Ahhh, sure the Tuvans can fire their weapons from a moving horse, but I think the womens choir has its own glorious armored cavalry division.

dleone: Classic. I heard this several years after it was actually popular, so I missed the yuppie fascination. Something about Eastern European folk music has everyone else's folk music beat, for me.
Can you articulate why this is? Does the blood of Eastern Europe flow through you and fill you with an inexplicable nostalgia for a land for which you've never been to?

Which in a way makes it more amazing, not less so.

If only because I'm thinking of bringing them to Boston and want to know if people would still come out for a show like this. :-)

they're beyond classic, I've been listening to the first two volumes again a lot in recent months. Going to have to check out the later records sometime soon, though there was a scary looking techno album in there obviously to be avoided.

In a cage match between Le Mystere and Huun Huur Tu it's hard to predict a winner...

if you're interested in what it would sound like, Huun Huur Tu did record two albums with the Bulgarian Voices Angelite. I need to recheck the liner notes, but I think I remember Angelite being a spin off group. I've heard Fly, Fly My Sadness and liked it, the voices do blend, I preferred the drawn out improvisations to the standards.

The highest recommendation I could give would be for the "spin-off" group, Eva Quartet, which features four of the main choir's most oustanding young singers. They have two albums, although only one - Harmonies - is even remotely easy to find. Their stuff is recorded in an actual studio with absolutely no reverb or gratuitous processing, so you just get those bold, dissonant Bulgarian harmonies with a pristine, dry mix. The effect is striking to say the least.

FWIW, the main choir is playing two dates in Pittsburgh and one in Durham, NC thus far, but nothing close to Boston. (They quietly passed through NYC in March.)

this CD compiling the earlier Nonesuch Explorers is also key: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000005IZA/ref=pd_cpt_gw_3/104-6023067-3629543?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=5174

the first time I ever heard this music was through holger czukay sampling it on 'sudetenland' from rome remains rome in 1987 -- I like what he did with it very much

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000034AF/ref=m_art_pr_6/002-1509497-2600845?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=5174

I found it for $2 in a used CD bin.

Kate Bush made quite good use of their talents I thought.

http://www.cdroots.com/km-eva.html

I ordered a copy yesterday after hearing the mp3s

Only BulgarianCDs seems to carry a second album by Eva Quartet; I haven't been able to locate it anywhere else. (Beware their hideous main graphics for Bulgarian chalga, or pop-folk, artists. The stuff verges on Balkan soft-core porn... with the exception of the truly unreal Azis, anyway.)

From Bulgaria with Love: The Pop Album, techno remixes, definitely not the best introduction to the group

bingo

11/28/2006
Tuesday
Grandville , OH
Denison

11/28/2006
Tuesday
Granville, OH
Denison University, Swasey Chapel
Show: 8:00

11/29/2006
Wednesday
Pittsburgh , PA
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

11/29/2006
Wednesday
Pittsburg, PA
Byham Theater, 101 6th St
Show: 7:30

11/30/2006
Thursday
Kutztown, PA
Kutztown University

11/30/2006
Thursday

Kutztown University, Schaeffer Auditorium, Main St
Tix: $14-$28, Show: 7:30

12/02/2006
Saturday
Durham, NC
Duke University

12/02/2006
Saturday
Durham, NC
Page Auditorium, Duke University
Show: 8:00

12/03/2006
Sunday
New York, NY
Symphony Space

12/03/2006
Sunday
New York, NY
Symphony Space, Sharp Theatre, 2537 Broadway at 95th St
Show: 4:00

12/05/2006
Tuesday
Cambridge , MA
Serbian Orthodox Church

12/07/2006
Thursday
Columbus, OH
Steve Rosenberg

12/08/2006
Friday
Washington, DC
Embassy of Bulgaria

12/10/2006
Sunday
Cleveland, OH
Shrine Church of Saint Stanislaus, 3649 E. 65th St
Show: 4:00

12/11/2006
Monday
Cleveland , OH
Cleveland Museum of Artas

More to follow at the URL noted by Skoolbus: http://www.eyefortalent.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/artist.performance_schedule/artist_id/66

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/mystere-des-voix-bulgares-4ad-story/

Very first concert I ever paid to see!

There was a new album a couple of months ago:

https://themysteryofthebulgarianvoices.bandcamp.com/album/boocheemish